At the Naval Institute, we believe our seminar program is Proceedings Live. We take issues identified on the pages of Proceedings—and many of the authors of these contributions—and feature them in a public forum. Like the content of the magazine, our seminars do not advance a Naval Institute point of view; our objective is to provide a forum where ideas can be discussed and points of view expressed freely. As this column came together, we received an e-mail from Frank Morgret that captures what the Naval Institute is all about:
I received my Proceedings this morning. I immediately sat down with a cup of coffee, flipped it open, and read an article—it doesn't matter which one—and was so incensed I said to myself, "I have to find my Life Membership Certificate so I can mail it back to the Institute. I have never read such a (expletives deleted) before in my life!"
I turned a few pages and another article roughly the same length caught my eye. I read it. I concluded I could not have said what it said nearly so well and so precisely; the author had expressed my own opinions better than I could myself.
Now, as I sit here composing this e-mail, I cannot help but wonder how many other members over the years have shared my experience of this morning. What I've learned one more time is that the Institute works, and that the Proceedings is a professional journal of the very highest quality. Well done!
The next six weeks offer three opportunities to get involved with Proceedings Live. On 7 September, two featured speakers—9/11 Commission Member and former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman and either Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld or a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—and three high-powered panels will address "How Goes the War against Terrorists and Where Do We Go from Here?" One of the panels will be a question-and-answer session with Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Vern Clark, Commandant of the Marine Corps General Mike Hagee, and Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral Tom Collins.
On 29-30 September, the Naval Institute sponsors its Ninth Annual Warfare Exposition and Symposium at the Pavilion Convention Center in Virginia Beach. This event lets fleet professionals engage current issues. Again a mix of featured speakers—including Commander, Fleet Forces Command, Admiral William Fallon and Commander, Joint Forces Command, Admiral Ed Giambastiani—and panels should spark discussions among an expected audience of 3,000 over this two-day event. Warfare also features an exposition hall where you can talk with more than 100 companies about new technologies and developments. This event is free.
With the introduction of the Artist in Residence program, it is fitting that we feature art on the cover of this issue. On the cover of the February 1977 Proceedings, we published Tom Freeman for the first time, literally launching Tom's art career. The cover of this issue—"Wave Off"—is a painting by Duane Keiser, who accompanied his brother, Lieutenant Commander John Keiser, on board the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) with a training detachment from Fighter Squadron 101. Both Duane and John are Naval Institute members and sons of Proceedings Senior Editor Gordy Keiser.
On 8 October, in San Francisco, at the Marines' Memorial Club and Hotel, the Naval Institute will cohost with the Marines' Memorial Association a one-day examination of "Biometric Technology for Homeland Security: What's the Art of the Possible?" This event will be capped by an address by Lieutenant General James T. Conway, just back from his second tour leading Marine forces in Iraqi Freedom.
Over the next six weeks we will be within three blocks of the Pentagon, in Norfolk/Virginia Beach, in San Francisco, and in Annapolis. Join us live at one of these locations, if even for a single panel or a cup of coffee.